The Father of the Argyle Diamond Mine - The Largest Diamond Mine in the World.

n terms of a significant mineral discovery in Australia, one cannot go past the search for the Argyle Diamond Mine in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. The Argyle Diamond Mine discovery was the first of its kind in every aspect of the project.

 

Episode 115 of Samso Insights is all about Ewen Tyler and how he narrates a discovery of a lifetime.

 

Ewen Tyler is the man who is credited as the "Father of the Argyle Diamond Mine". I will have to say that as much as all Discovery Journeys is a team game, there had to be a driver and a man to take the heat.

 

The diamond project was the biggest, had the best grade, was the first major diamond deposit discovery in Australia, and most importantly, it was the first diamond discovery outside the cartel of De Beers and the Russian Federation.

 

A History of the Argyle Diamond Mine

(Wilipedia)

 

The Argyle Diamond Mine (Figure 1) was a diamond mine located in the East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia. Argyle was at times the largest diamond producer in the world by volume (14 million carats in 2018[1]), although the proportion of gem-quality diamonds was low. It was the only known significant source of pink and red diamonds (producing over 90% of the world's supply), and additionally provided a large proportion of other naturally coloured diamonds, including champagne, cognac, and rare blue diamonds.

 

Mining operations ceased in November 2020, after 37 years of operations and producing more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds. Mine operator Rio Tinto plans to decommission the mine and rehabilitate the site at least through 2025.[2][3]

 

The Argyle diamond mine is also notable for being the first successful commercial diamond mine exploiting a volcanic pipe of lamproite, rather than the more usual kimberlite pipe; much earlier attempts to mine diamonds from a lamproite pipe in Arkansas, United States, were commercially unsuccessful. The Argyle mine is owned by the Rio Tinto Group, a diversified mining company that also owns the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada and the Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: The Argyle Diamond Mine.

My Fascination for Diamonds and Diamond Exploration

 

This episode of Samso Insights will go down as one of my favorites. It was a great privilege to have had access to a story like that of Ewen Tyler. The greatness of his achievement is his ability to keep the search for a diamond source alive for so long. I have been a big fan of diamond exploration since I started my Honours Thesis at the University of Western Australia.

 

In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, I had a great interest in gems even before my time at University. As Ewen put it perfectly, "Only Fools Will Explore for Diamonds". This statement is in fact very common with people who have had the taste of diamond exploration. It is probably safe to say that only passionate explorers will appreciate the hardship that diamond explorers had to go through with little to no reward.

 

There is not much to elaborate here except to tell readers to settle in and listen to what is arguably one of the best stories about persistence and gamesmanship to persist with the search for a "potential" diamond discovery.

 

The interview has been largely guided by the book by Stuart Kells entitled " Argyle - The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds". When I did the Samso Insight about the discovery of the Olympic Dam, I did not have the information about the business side of the process. This book by Stuart Kells gave a great narrative on the Boardroom aspect of the journey.

 

To Purchase the book click on our Amazon Affiliate link:

Argyle - The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds

 

Samso's Conclusion

 

The diamond exploration industry is pretty much non-existent today. I think there is one company that may be active in the industry worth mentioning. The industry is now all about the existing miners as the flare of exploration is now too expensive. In the business of mineral exploration, the risk-reward ratios are now not even worth discussing.

 

The Arglye story is inspired by the famous pink diamond but as Ewen Tyler spells it out, there was no consideration of these stones. The success of Argyle was the marvels marketing the value of the stones which made the mining process work.

 

In my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful than a good coloured stone (Figure 2). There will be many narratives out in the public space that will argue that a quality white will forever be better, but a beautiful stone is one that makes a statement. It is about what the stone shoes and the history that it comes from that creates the value. If you watch this interview, you will get the sense that the value of the argyle stones was all about the Argyle story.

 

 

 

Figure 2: A range of Argyle's best.

 

 

Chapters:

 

00:00:00 Start

00:00:15 Introduction

00:01:00 The Ewen Tyler Story - The beginning

00:13:02 Rex Prider Factor

00:14:46 Start of the search for diamonds in Australia

00:17:21 Introduction of Rio Tinto

00:18:22 Path to Ellendale

00:20:14 Business of Ellendale

00:20:52 Discovery of diamonds in Smoke Creek

00:21:25 Bringing context into the search area

00:22:16 Team Argyle

00:24:41 Arrangement with the Western Australian Government

00:28:27 The Rio Tinto Lifeline

00:29:42 Early signs of the discovery of Argyle

00:31:34 Waiting Game - The Process and The Secrecy Game

00:33:53 Ewen earned the title of The Father of Argyle Diamond Mine

00:37:02 Arriving at Argyle

00:38:05 Unbelievable Grade of Diamonds

00:39:43 Smoke Creek and Limestone Creek - First sighting of the Argyle Pink Diamond

00:40:42 The Mythical Value of the Pink Diamonds for Argyle

00:42:50 Economic Study of the Argyle Diamond Mine

00:43:17 Funding the mining of Argyle Diamonds

00:50:08 First Nation Discussions

00:53:47 The Birth of the Marketing Gunnies of the Argyle Diamonds

01:00:31 Webb Diamond Project

01:01:28 Other sources of diamond projects

01:03:49 Ewen Thoughts on Mineral Exploration

01:05:34 Importance of the Team in Mineral Exploration

01:07:04 Is there an Impossible Exploration Discovery?

01:08:53 Conclusion